Bin Laden and Obama: Judgement Call

Updated on May 9, 2011

What were they watching?

The Morality Factor

The news was delivered by the President himself. It has just been a week since US Navy Seals stormed the compound where Osama Bin Laden was staying for the better part of five years deep in the heartland of Pakistan.

Of the many reactions to Bin Laden's death, it was Michael Moore who gave the most interesting response and it is hopeful that America was listening. In acquiring the details of this execution (if we are to believe what we have been told), there needs to be a careful examination of these events that have transpired.

The first disturbing act is that an American force penetrated a foreign state's sovereignty without its knowledge and committed at least five killings. Let's consider this for a moment. If Hosni Mubarek escaped to the United States to escape crimes against Egypt, the Egyptians would not be sending in their own military to the States to hunt him down.

If they had done so, the Egyptian leader responsible would certainly not call a press conference and indicate that he gave the order to do so. He would not have congratulated his troops on national television and he certainly would not admit that he purposely withheld intelligence information from the Americans. Such deeds would result in an act of war.

Details are not clear but as far as we know Obama gave the orders to assassinate Bin Laden in a foreign country. It has been established that Bin Laden was not armed. His wife charged the Seals and was shot in the leg. She was not killed. There is no account given that Bin Laden threatened or resisted. These details are fuzzy however if the wife could be shot in the leg why was Bin Laden not given the same treatment?

America is one of the few countries on earth that prides itself with judicial due process. As Michael Moore has said, the Nazis were given trials after the war (due process) and they certainly did a lot more damage than Bin Laden could ever think of.

It is unbelievable that America's due process and Obama's christian moral center were completely flushed down the drain in regards to his orders to execute Bin Laden in a foreign country. The character of Bin Laden and what he has done has no bearing on whether he deserves a trial or not. Under American law, every individual regardless has the right to a fair trial.

The other surprisingly despicable thing about this whole affair is that President Obama used this assassination for political points. He knew he would get no protests from the republican side and aside from Michael Moore, most democrats have remained unusually quiet.

Why not keep a successful assassination on foreign soil a secret? Furthermore, if Obama has solid evidence that it is indeed Bin Laden that was executed, why not hand over that evidence to an international body such as the Red Cross. that could confirm without doubt the kill. This way the public does not see the gruesome images and the conspiracy theories for the most part can be put to rest.

It is quite possible that there will be no more information forthcoming on this saga (we are dealing with US government agencies here). Regardless of whether Osama Bin Laden was really killed or not, at the very least, the most powerful man in the world, authorized an invasion force in a foreign country that was not under his sovereignty. That force was responsible for at least five deaths. Is that not terrorism in itself?

At the very worst, Obama gave the orders to shoot and kill which was carried out. In doing so, he threw out due process and violated his own moral code as well as various laws of the Constitution of the United States. Finally, he goes on national television and admits what he did.

In his televised speech, the phrase "Bin Laden has been killed" mingles with the typical Obama conclusion - "God Bless the United States Of America". Truly, there could not have been a more ironic moment in the history of television and the fact that very few seemed to recognize it, makes it ironic all the more.

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Comments 2 comments

I have mixed feelings about this. It does seem unreasonable for anyone to enter another's country to kill someone. But if more Special Ops troops carried out missions like this, it would have saved 10 years and many more lives. It could work in other situations too. I don't mourn Bin Ladin, and Pakistan is playing both sides. I wouldn't give them another dime or weapon. This could have been "taken care of" years ago, and many more family's loved ones spared.

Robertj64 5 years ago from Burlington, Ontario, Canada Author

I agree with that Jean. For Obama to come right out and publicly admit that he violated 1) human rights and 2)another country's sovereignty meant he only did it to reap political points.

Curious that there was no regard for Bin Laden's children, some of whom watched their father being brutally murdered. Ultimately, Bin Laden may have had this coming to him but do you think that his children will grow up to love America or maybe look to the nearest terrorist cell to do more damage?